LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are rolling through the league this season. They entered Monday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks with a 15-6 record, including a 4-2 mark on their current seven-game road trip. They’ve become especially adept at disappointing road fans. Through 13 road games, the Lakers have an 11-2 record.
And though the Atlanta Hawks made things interesting during Monday’s game, the Lakers controlled their battle throughout. That apparently didn’t sit well with an Atlanta fan sitting courtside, who got into an altercation with LeBron James and was ejected from the game by security. Lakers broadcaster Bill Macdonald even jokingly compared the moment to the meme of a Desperate Housewives cast member pointing at an indifferent cat.
As James revealed after the game, the argument was between him and the woman’s husband, and he did not think they should be ejected from the game.
“At the end of the day, I’m happy fans are back in the building,” James told reporters. “I missed that interaction, I need that interaction, we as players need that interaction. I don’t feel like it was warranted to be kicked out. There was a back-and-forth between two grown men. We said our piece, he said his piece, I said my piece, and then someone else jumped into it and said their piece. I didn’t think they should’ve been kicked out, but they might’ve had a couple of drinks, maybe, and they could’ve probably kept it going and the game wouldn’t have been about the game anymore, so the referees did what they had to do.”
This is not the first incident James has had with a spectator during this road trip. In a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, James missed a shot at the end of the third quarter and was unhappy with how a Cleveland executive reacted. He responded by scoring 26 points in the fourth quarter.
“I felt like he was just a little bit too excited about seeing me miss,” James told reporters then. “He was really excited about me missing that shot. A little bit more extra than I would have liked. But he’s got to root for his team, obviously. And he was, he showcased that. So I knew I had another quarter, and the fourth quarter’s my favorite.”
The Lakers ultimately escaped with a victory, giving them 12 road wins on the year and sending them home for 10 of their next 15 games. Hopefully, it’ll be a little while before LeBron gets into it with another road fan with such a long stint in Los Angeles ahead.